Apology

Pardon' cannot be separated from memory, but can memory be everlasting? Is it possible for us to speak about 'pardon' outside of history?

In Milan Kundera's novel The Joke, Ludvik seeks revenge for the pain his friend inflicted upon him in the past, when, just because of a joke, he was ostracized by the ruling Communist Party. He succeeds in his revenge, but this does not make him happy. It turns out there is another 'joke': people are deceived if they think that memory can be eternal, and deceived to think that mistakes of the past can be set right. In the end, Kundera writes, vengeance and forgiveness "will be taken over by forgetting." Once vengeance is gone, forgiveness is no longer important.

May 3, 2016